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The Magmahammer Clan
The Magmahammer clan is a clan of Bronzebeard dwarves currently ruled by Thane Barmoiit Magmahammer. Magmahammer dwarves are generally stalwart warriors who practice the traditional combat art of the hammer, and have only recently begun to accept firearms practically under acting general Hildabrandt Magmahammer. The Magmahammer clan and name were made great in the War of the Three Hammers, and like many of their ancestors the modern dwarves share a common hatred for the Dark Iron dwarves, whose sorcery not only perplexes them but has posed a direct threat to Azeroth before. Many also harbor a distrust for the savage Wildhammer clan, their cousins' foolish bravery not only a disgrace on the battlefield but also a testament to their people's barbaric lifestyle. The War of the Three Hammers It is common knowledge that around three centuries ago, the three mightiest clans of the Ironforge clan – Bronzebeard, Wildhammer, and Dark Iron – successfully coexisted under High King Modimus Anvilmar. Civil unrest between these predominant factions has existed for as long as any scholar can recall, and when the dwarven high king passed away it is not surprising the Dark Iron and Wildhammer clans were exiled from Ironforge by the Bronzebeard. Unwilling to accept the others' presence, and seeking control of the city for themselves, the clans engaged each other for supremacy. Legend of the Magma Hammer Barmoiit Thickbeard of the Bronzebeard clan was a charismatic and capable warrior by the dawn of the civil war, skillful in melee combat with a hammer that had won him many battles. A proud albeit greedy Bronzebeard, as was the norm centuries ago, he was eager to pledge himself for his people for the sake of glory and ridding Ironforge of the Dark Iron dwarves. After the war began, Barmoiit quickly won respect from many of his comrades for his like-mindedness and capabilities. One eve, Barmoiit and his fellow soldiers engaged a Wildhammer clan complement. Although they stood their ground firmly, their adversaries' hasty tactics corroded their ranks, and eventually Barmoiit was forced away from his formation, leaving him cornered to fight the encroaching Wildhammer alone. Barmoiit persevered and felled many of his opponents, but he was at a significant disadvantage: the Wildhammer dwarves who fell were only replaced by more from the innumerable crevices of Ironforge's hallways. When his hammer shattered he was pushed back, inevitably forced to retreat into a small smithy nearby. The smithy interior was small and littered with crowding objects: a forge, water trough, barrels of coal, pyramid piles of ingots, and several wooden crates. The building has been vacated hurriedly, and on the anvil lay a hammer of familiar style to Barmoiit, unrefined but with its head still bright hot from the flames of the forge. With little time to prepare, he grabbed the shaft of the weapon and charged to greet the encroaching Wildhammer dwarves who now shouted eagerly with the anticipation of a kill. What they met with, however, was the receiving end of a thoroughly hot hammer head which burned straight through their skin and armor, easily felling several of them. Beholding this sight, the remaining dwarves quickly turned on their heels and fled in terror, having mistaken the hammer for a fiery variant of their clan's signature storm hammers. Barmoiit Thickbeard must have been grateful to the hammer that saved his life, for he later adopted the surname Magmahammer and carried it to greatness in the battles to come. The Battle for Supremacy Word of his miraculous survival spread quickly among the Bronzebeard ranks and the newly renamed Barmoiit Magmahammer was well-received for his efforts, shortly afterward rising through the military ranks. His successes continued and as the war progressed he was eventually granted control over a battalion of dwarves. Barmoiit called upon his war experiences and trained his men extensively to ready them for confrontation against their enemies, and his forces were later present in the final push by the Bronzebeard, where Barmoiit displayed his efforts by commanding his men in single line formations that marched on and ultimately overwhelmed their foes with their heavy armor and weapons. Barmoiit was later hailed as a tactical genius for his actions in the battle: Though the storm hammers of the Wildhammer and magic of the Dark Iron were effective in battle, they alone could not subdue an entire group of dwarves, and the close combat support provided by this maneuver proved a deadly deterrent to the advantageous abilities their enemies had previously championed. With victory secured and the Dark Iron and Wildhammer forces suppressed from the city at last, Madoran Bronzebeard—to whom Barmoiit swore allegiance—finally established himself as king. While the memory of victory was fresh in the minds of the Bronzebeard people, Barmoiit seized the chance to further boost his status. In an effort to preserve his power, he delivered a single mighty speech in the Military Ward that recanted his military accomplishments and his ideals of a Bronzebeard-controlled Ironforge. With a lure of honor, wealth, and family, he gained the backing of many troops and fellow politicians, afterward appealing to the newly established crown with a proposal to form his very own clan which he deemed "the protectors of Ironforge", named after the very hammer he claims saved his life; the Magmahammer Clan. There were few legal disputes and the government soon bestowed upon Barmoiit the title of thane and some of its acquired land in an attempt to consolidate its newfound power. Magmahammer March Even as the war subsided, the recently founded Magmahammer Clan remained militaristic and the capable continued their training under Barmoiit's supervision. As his forces grew in numbers, Barmoiit chose to elect several veterans from among his original battalion who would serve him as sergeants and aid him in training. Because the Bronzebeard dwarves did not expect the Dark Iron to stomach their loss of the city contently, Barmoiit and his sergeants adapted their training and techniques. Because the Dark Iron were proficient magic users, a light albeit durable suit of armor would be needed to fight them effectively. Agility was emphasized, with lighter armor and weapons manufactured that would more than serve their purpose against loosely clothed magi. Lighter weapons allowed the dwarves to carry shields, and the previously tight formation links were relaxed so the dwarves would be able to prevent incoming magic missile attacks and isolate Dark Iron groups. This new strategy was perfected in time for the Dark Iron's eventual return to Ironforge and Barmoiit ensured that his men would stand near the front lines and as close to their king, Madoran Bronzebeard, as possible in anticipation of Sorcerer-thane Thaurissan's army. When the battle began, Barmoiit joined his sergeants, men, and fellow clan on the field. In a single mighty push, the Bronzebeard defeated the Dark Iron and in doing so the Magmahammer name was able to prove its strength and ingenuity once more. This time, Barmoiit Magmahammer was hailed and promoted to General, and shortly afterward receiving an order to train an army in order to assist the Ironforge government crush the Dark Iron's power threshold. Ragnaros the Firelord After months of pursuing and wiping out remaining Dark Iron remnants and marching on foot, General Barmoiit Magmahammer's and Ironforge's armies finally entered the Redridge Mountains and converged on their destination: the Dark Iron capital of Thaurissan. Intending to block every avenue of escape the Sorcerer-thane Thaurissan might have hidden under his beard, Barmoiit separated his men from the bulk of Ironforge's armies after volunteering to stand by and intercept any remaining or unforeseen dark iron forces while the majority would march on the capital and force the emperor's unconditional surrender. In truth, Barmoiit believed that Thaurissan would elude the Bronzebeard yet again and flee the capital, and when he did, he would unwittingly deliver himself to Barmoiit's forces, bringing great glory to both himself and his clan. To meet this end, Barmoiit began preparations to send scouts into the Dark Iron's territory and survey places of interest: exits, entrances, crevices, anything that might be used to escape the city outside of the mainstream access points covered by the Bronzebeard armies. All dwarven soldiers present in the Redridge Mountains, beholding the final destination of their march and capital of their nemesis, were under the impression that there was nothing Sorcerer-thane Thaurissan could do to salvage his grave losses. They were confident, and while not careless, were surely unprepared for the suddenness of Thaurissan's desperate retaliation. General Barmoiit Magmahammer in particular was overlooking the cityscape that housed a desperate emperor soon to be fished out with a thin smile through his beard, his hands resting on the his hammer's handle with its head pressed against the dusty soil at the exact moment that the earth trembled with terrifying force. Before his senses could catch whim of what had happened, the Dark Iron's grand city split in a tectonic shift, its integrity viciously torn apart almost instantly and becoming a gruesome, volcanic orifice that ushered an immense being of pure flame and hatred into the world. The sky was bent, twisted into something malefic from the volcanic ash, and an outburst of flame soared across the horizon, repainting the surrounding mountains an ashen black. The fire, within mere seconds of its eruption, reached and seared Barmoiit's beard right off. Horrified as he beheld the manifestation of the Firelord into this world and his fiery infernos that created and destroyed mountains in mere seconds, Barmoiit quickly echoed everyone's cries of retreat, sounding for his men to regroup with the equally-mortified Bronzebeard and flee the region. The Post-War Battles As the war drew to a begrudging close, many returned to Ironforge bearing physical and mental scars they would not soon forget. Barmoiit in particular would brood over the events for years to come. The loss of his beard was especially damaging to his honor, and the "cowardice" of his nemeses would perpetuate his hatred for the Dark Iron dwarves. He became secluded and disinterested with the bustling politics of Ironforge for a time: as the gnomes set out to build Gnomeregan and Madoran Bronzebeard turned his attention to his city and people, Barmoiit plotted to crush the Dark Iron once and for all, convinced that the summoning of Ragnaros during the war was little more than a magical fluke and that Thaurissan remained comfortably within his kingdom. Eventually he would launch a military campaign to satisfy both his aggravation and that of the dwarven people over the Dark Iron's dishonorable assaults and tactics. With the backing of his clansmen, like-minded influential allies, and through several emotionally stirring speeches, Barmoiit quickly amassed both support and financing for his endeavors. Blackrock Mountain The first march into the scorched Dark Iron kingdom was one of great curiosity and apprehension. The Bronzebeard dwarves maintained several garrisons across the now charred Redridge Mountains, and these would become focal points in the Magmahammer dwarves' marches, providing rest and reports on Dark Iron activity. These reports spoke chiefly of the grotesquely reshaped terrain and the Dark Iron dwarves accompanied by beings of pure flame in a large migration to the volcano formed during the Firelord's summoning. After reading these reports, Barmoiit and many of his officers felt that despite a lack of his mention, Thaurissan had survived and was gathering his people for another assault on Ironforge. Later arriving at and basing themselves out of one such garrison, a plan was devised to root out the Dark Iron's sorcerer-thane: a captain would lead a regiment into the ruined city of Thaurissan to survey the situation and, if possible, secure evidence of the ruler's whereabouts. It was also not a concern of Barmoiit's if the dark irons knew of their presence; he had wished to instill fear in them, and so he sent another regiment of his armies to probe the Dark Iron forces for weaknesses while they were presumably scattered to destroy whatever they could, salvaging what they needed. Their largest concern, however, laid with the flame beings: what were they? The presence of these elementals had baffled Barmoiit and his men alike, though it was ultimately decided that they would find out through traditional combat on the battlefield. Return to Ironforge Before long, concerns began to grow within the Magmahammers' ranks after a series of failures beset them. When the regiment sent to survey Thaurissan returned, they brought with them horrifying tales of dark magics and visions that plagued their minds, eventually forcing them to turn back. No trace of the sorcerer-thane had been found, and morale was further derailed when only a fraction of the offensive forces returned, battered and seared from battling the flame elementals who defended their new territory fiercely. Fearing that these beings served Thaurissan and would march on Ironforge soon, Barmoiit hastily wrote for reinforcements, but his plea fell on deaf ears: word of Grim Batol, the Wildhammer's capital which was cursed by Thaurissan's wife and subsequently rendered uninhabitable, had reached Ironforge's masses and now many dwarves abandoned the idea of revenge, simply wanting to force the Dark Iron from their minds. Realizing this situation as word of Grim Batol reached himself, Barmoiit departed for Ironforge and set out on his bid for reinforcements, leaving his senior officers in charge of the Redridge operations. With his charisma and sense of invoking duty in others, Barmoiit was able to sway many younger dwarves eager to prove themselves as men to join him in eradicating the Dark Iron threat; however he would face considerable political opposition this time. Many dwarves now believed that Thaurissan had cursed his own people as his wife cursed Grim Batol, and they felt that their clan was no longer a threat. Wealthier dwarves and thanes now scoffed at the idea of lending their own troops to "fight an already ended war", and offered little to the effort. This instance would prove to be increasingly difficult and timid for Barmoiit, as his men's reports that there were beings of pure flame had the opposite intended effect that the general had anticipated: his colleagues and friends, when turned to, shied away even further. They shared the belief that the Dark Iron clan was a containable threat at the very most. Ultimately, however, the allure of capturing the Dark Iron's ruler, responsible for so much strife and death, had attracted a small army of inexperienced dwarves and seldom war veterans which Barmoiit would return to the front lines with, intending to bring the War of the Three Hammers to a complete close. Sealing the Gorge The march en route to regroup with General Magmahammer's forces was remarkably less grand and yet less rigid than the first. The general was largely responsible for funding these new troops' needs and supplies now, a courtesy he tended not to over-extend. The fear of ambush was lessened by the Magmahammers' earlier advance, and while it was regrettable in Barmoiit's eyes that they did not see real combat before arriving at their destination, he personally oversaw much of the men's training, preparing them for ambushes and instructing them in his famous practice of marching group formations, which had since been adapted to better accommodate field combat. As they neared their destination, disturbing reports began to arrive from heralds detailing the nature of events since Barmoiit's departure months ago. These reports spoke of various skirmishes and the fall of several other Bronzebeard-controlled garrisons, even including several interrogation logs. The Dark Iron forces were apparently larger in number than anticipated and, despite their crushing defeat a mere several years ago, they had begun to mount assaults on the Magmahammer fortifications among others, alongside their bestial flame elementals. Several Dark Iron had been captured during these battles and were interrogated by senior officers, each claiming that Sorcerer-thane Thaurissan had not survived the summoning ritual and that they were now subjugated to the rule of a much larger and fiercer entity. Barmoiit, while infuriated that such propaganda would make it into official reports, sped along his march to reinforce his men against the Dark Iron threat. It was a dry morning when General Magmahammer was finally able to rendezvous with his men, and the stench of blood and death held itself high in the air as they approached the scene of what was now a battlefield. The Magmahammer offensive had been effectively crippled, the vast stretches of lava fissures in the landscape an ideal canal for the fire elementals who repelled the dwarves; food supplies had run dangerously low for some time and many casualties were sustained. The Dark Iron's attacks had set the garrison into a barricaded defense position; morale was all but depleted. With Barmoiit's arrival, relief and supplies came ''– ''however the effort was too little, and too late. Though the Magmahammer clan's stake in the Dark Iron's kingdom was revitalized for a short while, it was futile. Barely a fortnight after his return, the garrison fell under overwhelming attack in the middle of night: an attack in which neither Barmoiit nor his officers could do anything to turn the tide. Stone golems, new creations of the Firelord, appeared on the battlefield and decimated all in their wake. Fire rained on the Bronzebeard from above, and the Dark Iron joined their stone allies, cleaning up what was not crushed by the golems. It was not long before the order for retreat was sounded, the dwarves fleeing from their impregnable assailants for many days and nights, sometimes on end. Ironforge would, inevitably, seal what became known as the Searing Gorge off from Khaz Modan after this and several similar events among their other armies. Category:Dwarf Category:Clan Category:Alliance Category:Bronzebeard